Bittersweet Memories
by wickedxdivine
Summary: Klebekah One-Shot. Rebekah reflects on memories with Niklaus of when they were human.


Rebekah stared at the window from her bed, watching the streaks of water that ran across it. The cacophony of thunder, lighting, and rain was a strange music to her ears. The thunder rolled and cracked so loud she thought she could feel the house shake.

A memory came back to her then, plucked from the deep recesses of her mind. So many of her memories were painful, but there was still joy to be found in many of them. The memory that came to her now was from her childhood, when she had been only a little girl.

When she was younger she was scared each time her family and the villagers retreated to the caves for safety from the werewolves. At that age she did not understand it all very well, and the dreadful noises under the full moon were nightmarish to her. The high pitched howls, the fierce growling, the sounds of teeth setting on teeth and the commotion from the other villagers in the caves terrified her beyond measure.

A ghost of a smile appeared on her lips when she remembered the way Niklaus had taken her in his arms, whispering to her that it would all be okay, that she was safe, that he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

But when it stormed and thunder rolled across the village, reverberating off each house, she was reminded of the caves and the myriad of sounds from the wolves that had frightened her so. She knew her fears were irrational, yet within minutes she was escaping from her bed and fleeing into Niklaus' room.

He awoke at the sound of her rushed entrance, asking her with sleep-filled eyes what the matter was. She felt foolish for being afraid of nothing, but when she asked him in a small voice if she could stay with him he had no qualms with it.

Now, a thousand years later, spurred by the remembrance of these memories, Rebekah found herself creeping out of bed and through the hallway to see if Niklaus was awake.

The door creaked faintly at her gentle push, and his head turned from the side he lay at to see her. Strange how after all this time those sleep-filled eyes really hadn't changed at all. In other circumstances they were different, hard, cold, occasionally amused, but now they were as she remembered so vividly.

"Bekah, what is it?" he rolled on his back.

She shrugged and bounded toward him, shoving him aside as a younger sister would to make room on the bed. He groaned in protest but by that time she was already lying next to him.

Despite being in bed, he was dressed in dark jeans and even still had his shoes on. His shirt was haphazardly tossed on the nearest chair and his hair was a mess of curls. Nik never slept very often, and it wasn't for lack of trying. He looked exhausted now, more than usual to Rebekah.

"Did you need something?" he looked at her pointedly, a slight annoyance creeping into his tone.

"Do you remember how afraid of the caves and storms I was when we were human?"

"Yes of course I remember…" he trailed off, and in his silence the pitter-patter of rain became clearer. A sudden, loud rumbling of thunder echoed all around them. "It was the thunder," he said, as it came back to him. "You hated the thunder most, didn't you?"

"I would run to your room every time I even heard it start to rain," Rebekah laughed, and she heard him laughing too. It was a genuine laugh. A laugh from a time when things were simpler.

"I grew out of that though. Eventually I was much tougher than you," she quipped at him, earning an eye roll in return.

A silence fell between them again. They each lay on their backs, side by side, staring up at the ceiling for some time, simply listening to the rain tap at the windows in a steady rhythm.

Rebekah grew to love the rain as she was older, even chased Henrik around in it when he wished to play. She would not bring this up though.

She wondered if Niklaus ever thought about that day, when he carried their brother, only a broken boy then, back in his arms to their family. It was Rebekah who held Niklaus then, as the sobs racked through his body, as he whispered hoarsely over and over how sorry he was.

Nothing was the same after that day, and it hurt remembering.

Maybe that was why Nik did not ever speak of it. Maybe that was why it was easier to lie to her for years about their mother's death. Rebekah feared she would never know.

Did she even truly know him anymore? Had time completely stripped away everything that once was in him? Had time completely stripped away everything that once was in her?

_It did not matter. They were bound together, for better or for worse, and they would be bound together always and forever._

The silence had gone on too long, becoming an unwelcome and suffocating presence.

"I stayed with you every night it stormed," Rebekah found her voice; so quiet it was barely a whisper.

Nik glanced at her, shifting uncomfortably in the bed.

"Go to sleep, Rebekah," he turned from her as he spoke. All traces of laughter gone. He was so harsh, so cruel. She should have known better than to expect any different after all these years.

Rebekah often wished she knew what happened to the brother that used to hold her close when she was frightened. The brother that told her everything would be okay even after their father had killed them both.

She looked down at him, his face obscured from her, his body stiff and unmoving on the bed. She wanted to speak; to ask him how he could always be this way.

Instead, Rebekah did what she always did. She picked up the broken pieces of her heart, all the tiny little pieces that would never fit together again, and crawled from the bed.

The door creaked again as she began to pull it closed behind her.

"Sister," he called to her, facing the door as he had before.

Rebekah peered back inside.

_"**Stay."**_

It was the last thing she expected to hear him say. He threw the covers back, and eyed her with a tinge of sadness. It was a barely noticeable sorrow, but so profound it left a bittersweet taste in her mouth.

Part of her wanted to refuse. He hurt her too many times without even an ounce of care. But she couldn't. Not when his eyes met hers in a way that made her feel he was on the verge of breaking. (She feared Niklaus was always on the verge of breaking though.)

And so, Rebekah tiptoed back to the bed. Nik watched her with tired eyes as she pushed her hair aside and settled in beside him.

Rebekah smiled briefly when his eyes fluttered to a close. His breathing softened, and his body quickly relaxed, so close to hers that their foreheads just barely touched.

For once, it was _peaceful _between them.

The storm was outside.


End file.
